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Borexino Solar Neutrino Detector

Borexino Solar Neutrino Detector

The Borexino prototype detector (CTF) shown here, a four-ton spherical scintillator target surrounded by ultra-pure water and 100 photomultiplier tubes, operated between 1994 and 2003. The tubes detect flashes of light from ionizing radiation (including neutrinos) occurring in the scintillating volume. A thin nylon "shroud" prevents radioactive contamination from entering the centermost volume of the detector. The main Borexino experiment has been taking data since 2007.

An international team of about 100 scientists of the Borexino Collaboration, including particle physicist Andrea Pocar at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, report in Nature, detection of neutrinos from the sun, directly revealing for the first time that the carbon-nitrogen-oxygen (CNO) fusion-cycle is at work in our sun.

Credit: Borexino Collaboration

Learn more about this collaboration

Students and postdocs gathered at the Soft Matter and Biophysics Friday Pizza Lunch

Soft Matter and Biophysics Friday Pizza Lunch

Each week, students and postdocs gather for the Soft Matter and Biophysics Friday Pizza Lunch. Become part of the physics conversation here at UMass.

Physics Spotlight

Congratulations to Physics Grad Student Utkarsh Agrawal on his Defense and KITP, Santa Barbara Postdoctoral Fellowship!

Utkarsh Agrawal, Ph.D., University of Massachusetts Amherst 
This spotlight highlights one of our recent Physics graduate students, Ph.D. recipient Utkarsh Agrawal. He was chosen to not only introduce him to the larger physics community, but also to showcase his achievement on becoming a KITP, Santa Barbara postdoc
portrait of Utkarsh Agrawal